Teens Destroy Brian Holloway's House, and the Evidence Is on Twitter

Best practices for partying include not leaving digital evidence for the police, unless you are desperate for attention.

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And I thought my brother was bad.

One time, when the rest of our family was on vacation in the Poconos, he threw a party.

You know how we knew?

There were empty beer cans in the hamper.

Now the way I see it, if you can make it out of school with no unwanted children, sexually transmitted diseases, unhealthy addictions, or serious run-ins with the law, you're doing okay. Kids are going to be kids, and it's perfectly normal for them to raise some hell every now and again by doing the same stuff you did when you were their age.

But -- my brother's misadventure aside -- those same kids should have the decency and common sense to at least try to hide their misdeeds.

My mother thought I was an angel. But I was just adamant about vacuuming and taking the trash out.

So let's talk about the 300 or so teenagers who broke into and trashed retired NFL star Brian Holloway's upstate NY home while he was in Florida, causing over $20,000 in damage.

I'm not condoning this type of activity; there's a big, big difference between having a house party while your parents are off sipping cocktails in Bora Bora and destroying someone's personal property.

But at the end of the day, kids are going to do some dumb things, and sometimes things will get out of hand. It's just the reality of teenage life.

The big difference, however, is that this pack of youngsters decided it would be a good idea to document the madness and show it all off.

With the rise of social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), and Instagram, our culture is developing an increasing obsession with documenting every last thing for everyone else to see, support, and envy.

And at some types of events -- like concerts -- documentation becomes the event. The actual real-world experience becomes secondary.

By the way, once again, I want to send thanks to Zooey Deschanel and all the other people who are fighting this trend.

So why did these kids show off their destruction of Holloway's house?

Because attention is the ultimate currency.

In the fraction of a second it takes to shoot a picture, you can show the entire world how cool and crazy you are.

The risk of getting caught for doing something very illegal is well worth the reward of the retweet.

And that's a big problem in today's Big Brother environment where everything will go down on your permanent record.

It does appear that the folks in this crew will get their comeuppance.

Holloway has posted pictures and tweets from the ill-fated party on a website, helpmesave300.com, and names are now being turned over to the local sheriff's department.

Unfortunately, the NY Daily News is reporting that the parents of these kids, instead of offering to pay for repairs and begging Holloway not to press charges, are threatening him with lawsuits.

And why not?

Parents routinely protect misbehaving kids. Everyone's seen it.

But in this case, getting caught wasn't a matter of bad luck or some random stupidity -- it was half intentional.

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